From my early years to present day, I have always had an appreciation for detailed, vibrant, and complex design. I work in a variety of media, some less often seen, which allows me to create unique works of art that are striking and colorful in appearance. I do not mask the meaning of my work. I feel that an artist’s work should be able to speak for itself through the media and imagery. My works display the years of skill development and dedication to my craft. Each project allows me to exhibit these characteristics. Currently, I work mostly with Prisma Color pencils for color concepts, and my black and white designs are in “black paper” media or archival ink.

When deciding what the next project will be, I often close my eyes to the visual world around me and let my mind wander. Eventually I come up with a concept, and then the process of building the image begins. When using Prisma Color pencils to create illustrations based on popular phrases or idioms, it is my goal to not only clearly translate the phrase through the imagery, but also to give my cartoon characters realistic details. The combination of cartoon features with realistic texture is something that I aspire to create every time I design. My artwork takes a different approach when working on incised black paper concepts. I only have the black paper and the backboard to which it is attached to create the design. It is challenging to cut an image out of a single sheet of paper, and give it a three dimensional look without using shading or a variety of color. That is what I enjoy most about that media.

Art requires patience and dedication. I have always had an intense love for artwork. I enjoy the endless hours of developing concepts to portray, and then creating the work that reflects my visions. No matter which media I choose, I always approach the project with the same attitude and skill. It is my firm belief that a project has only been done the best that it can be done, when I have fully used the skills I have been taught and developed over the course of my life.

In the beginning, there was ……… actually, there was high school. I was fortunate to attend a school that offered a wide variety of artistic disciplines. I took them all, though I must admit that “music appreciation” did not count as art to a wise- guy teenager. Yet from that beginning, I developed a passion for designing, creating, and building anything in any medium available. For most of my years, though, my creativity had to be expressed in the more pragmatic locations of work and home. Without regrets or complaints, my best work was having the opportunity to teach my children what I had learned, and then observe their creative exploits develop over time, and in their own way. Simply put…. three children with similar hand and eye skills developed three different styles of artistic expression. Only one chose the canvas, so to speak.

After a number of decades of experiencing life on this third planet from the sun, my artistic expression revolves around eyes, those proverbial windows to the soul. The expression dates back to individuals living “B.C.,” but my observations are more recent. As one interacts with all the other personalities in their daily existence, people clearly telegraph their thoughts and emotions with just the look on their face, and the intensities of their expressive eyes. We share the earth with animals that traverse the surfaces with more legs, wings, and fins than we possess, and they too can look right through you when necessary. I had the pleasure of training marine mammals at one time in my youth, and my success and safety depended on awareness of their “looks” as we interacted.

I choose to work most often in black and white, using archival ink for more defined and detailed expression, or incised black paper generally affixed to a white background for a more unusual texture and depth. Though once cut, the incised paper can appear as lace, just the mere thickness of the sheet can offer a special dimension to the work. I believe the restriction of color to black and white allows for a greater focus on the expressiveness of the subject of each work. After all, it is the subtleties of each look or stare that tells us something about the creature before us. I want my work to make the viewer look back at the soul before them…..have questions about their perceptions of the subject….in short, wonder what that creature, man or beast, sees in them?

I most often do not set out to define my next work through specific actions or planning. As you might imagine, one who has an attraction to expressive eyes might find the next work’s subject through casual observations. I see things! Whether I “see” something interesting with eyes open, or closed in thought, I am watching for a look that makes me wonder. I do my best to keep my work real, not the subject of conjecture. My goal is not to have viewers guessing what they are looking at, but spending their moments wondering “why” they need to look at this subject? What will this creature tell them about themselves or the world around them?